Here's one that turned out even better than expected. I'm surprised at myself that i measured as i went along, but i guess that's good for you because you can try it, too!
1 c. flour (i use Hodgson's Mill half whole wheat/half white)
1 c. rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
Really Large Dash of cinnamon
Medium Dash of: ginger, nutmeg, allspice
Smaller Dash of ground cloves
1/2 can pumpkin
1/4 c. vegetable oil
3/4 c. buttermilk
Big Splash of vanilla
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp salt
However Many walnuts you have ( i LOVE walnuts )
and, Essential Ingredient: make a Pandora station from "These Streets" by Paolo Nutini. It will make all the difference.
Some Extra Yummy Optional Stuff to put on the top
-honey
-streusel topping (you know, flower, butter, sugar--i didn't actually do this but it would be good)
-coconut?
I think it took about 35 minutes at 350.. but that's subjective. I'm confident that you know how to tell if a cake is done.
Maybe if you all make this, the weather will actually turn autumn-y?
30 September 2008
17 September 2008
celestial tea-saucer
every culture has had religion. there is evidence, always, of some thought of the afterlife or spirits or something intangibly real. flowers in graves. doesn't mean there is a spiritual realm, Dr. Atheist, it just means that it bears investigation. just like if everyone agreed that there was a saucer of tea up in the sky between the moon and the sun. it would be weird. but if Every Person thought so, i'd think we should check it out.
Those are my thoughts on the topic of Tuesday's discussion in my World Civilization class. My thoughts right now are that i should be less "Laconic" in my writing. I don't take enough time to wrestle sentences out of my mind when just words will do--correct but not excellent. And i don't write until i don't have time.
Do you have that one piece of clothing that always gets stained? My Thai pants have had way too many interactions with liquids that do not make them clean.
It's a beautiful day; i'm going to do laundry, study, and write a letter before making actual food for dinner and then studying some more. I would rather go on a photo-walk, or paint, or plant a garden, or ride my bike to Kingdom Come to see who's waiting for me there.
Those are my thoughts on the topic of Tuesday's discussion in my World Civilization class. My thoughts right now are that i should be less "Laconic" in my writing. I don't take enough time to wrestle sentences out of my mind when just words will do--correct but not excellent. And i don't write until i don't have time.
Do you have that one piece of clothing that always gets stained? My Thai pants have had way too many interactions with liquids that do not make them clean.
It's a beautiful day; i'm going to do laundry, study, and write a letter before making actual food for dinner and then studying some more. I would rather go on a photo-walk, or paint, or plant a garden, or ride my bike to Kingdom Come to see who's waiting for me there.
03 September 2008
dulce et decorum est
It's Wilfred Owen's famous WWI poem about 'the old Lie.' I read it in the 10th grade. Now i'm studying Latin (or maybe glancing at it for about 5 minutes 3 days a week) and random words pop into my head, such as 'cenam parat' and 'fessa est,' et cetera, like lots of times when i'm learning a new language.
I'm going to tie that in to the Fall of Man somehow whenever i dig my notes back out. I'm going to talk about the childlikeness of blaming one another, the serpent eating dust, consciousness and dependence, and lots of other deep thoughts from the beginning of Genesis. I won't leave you lost in the middle of a deep, dark journey without leading you to the end, like i did last time.
I'm also going to make these curtains match someday, put oil in my car, stop eating lots of cooked food, and put rubber bands in my braces for the last week. Like Amber, i'm going to have a date with Writing.
I'm going to tie that in to the Fall of Man somehow whenever i dig my notes back out. I'm going to talk about the childlikeness of blaming one another, the serpent eating dust, consciousness and dependence, and lots of other deep thoughts from the beginning of Genesis. I won't leave you lost in the middle of a deep, dark journey without leading you to the end, like i did last time.
I'm also going to make these curtains match someday, put oil in my car, stop eating lots of cooked food, and put rubber bands in my braces for the last week. Like Amber, i'm going to have a date with Writing.
29 August 2008
circles
Today i was struck by the wonder of the gift of literacy. Reading and writing really are not necessary to life and breath; but they enrich them to the nth degree. Besides all the uses for written communication, it is just downright pleasurable to look at marks on a page (or screen nowadays) and know what they mean. Thanks, God. (Maybe i should be thinking about Gilgamesh in World Lit, but it's more fun for me to think about words.)
I think that a lot of life happens in circles, and this is reflected by some different things. In certain kinds of Psalms, the organization is not centrally based on line or meter or rhyme, but on meaning. The writer takes you down a path, but at the end you find you're back at the beginning. Here's an example. And in Dante, everything is or is related to a circle. Scientifically, matter organizes itself into spheres and circles. Seasons cycle. And when i look at my life and its seasons, the various and sundry states that my heart has found itself, and the lessons that i've had to learn "the hard way," it is very evident that i am on a road that goes in circles. I get older every time, but i have to learn similar lessons ridiculously often. Daily routines are circles. What this means, i don't know, but i think it has something to do with we're all here, circling. There is significance to being and doing.
Peace!
I think that a lot of life happens in circles, and this is reflected by some different things. In certain kinds of Psalms, the organization is not centrally based on line or meter or rhyme, but on meaning. The writer takes you down a path, but at the end you find you're back at the beginning. Here's an example. And in Dante, everything is or is related to a circle. Scientifically, matter organizes itself into spheres and circles. Seasons cycle. And when i look at my life and its seasons, the various and sundry states that my heart has found itself, and the lessons that i've had to learn "the hard way," it is very evident that i am on a road that goes in circles. I get older every time, but i have to learn similar lessons ridiculously often. Daily routines are circles. What this means, i don't know, but i think it has something to do with we're all here, circling. There is significance to being and doing.
Peace!
21 August 2008
a sad day; a good book
The Little Bread Company of Block St. is no more, because of taxes or something. Let us take a moment to mourn the loss of the proximate best-muffin-in-world, not to mention a wonderful bakery.
..
..
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On a more pleasant note, i recommend Quentin Durward by Sir Walter Scott as the best vacation heart-refresher literature that ever i laid eyes on (well... at least within the last year or three). It is a journey of the imagination, honor, and character (because who reads knight-errant adventures without being there oneself?). More on this once i've finished it.
I'm in a new house, a new life. The transition is almost complete. My thoughts have been turning to love lost and stuff, so you may expect to hear more on that in the future. And those other things are still rumbling. (Now i'd better live up to these expectations i'm giving you.)
Peace to you. Love someone today.
..
..
..
On a more pleasant note, i recommend Quentin Durward by Sir Walter Scott as the best vacation heart-refresher literature that ever i laid eyes on (well... at least within the last year or three). It is a journey of the imagination, honor, and character (because who reads knight-errant adventures without being there oneself?). More on this once i've finished it.
I'm in a new house, a new life. The transition is almost complete. My thoughts have been turning to love lost and stuff, so you may expect to hear more on that in the future. And those other things are still rumbling. (Now i'd better live up to these expectations i'm giving you.)
Peace to you. Love someone today.
12 August 2008
movement
There's something happening, i think, because i see it everywhere. God is speaking to people about really, really living as His bride.. really being Christlike. It's here in Europe and here in Africa and all over and so many more places... and i'm excited to see what comes out, mostly because what i see resonates with my soul.
Changing the world has nothing to do with how much media happens about you or how many people know your name or even know about something you did without your name. It is an "ancillary benefit to the life we live." No matter what, you, one-sixbillionth of the world's population, have as much impact as when you would have been one-billionth or one-thousandth. And it's because you're not here for you, you're here for God, because He's making a fractal-tapestry with all of the wonderful and unique and carefully, detailfully created and beautiful lives that happen and come and go and choose. You choose. But God is absolutely omniscient. And He has a beautiful end for everything. Just because my mind can't go around that doesn't mean that it's okay for me to think that what i say and do doesn't have an impact. I don't have to understand, i just have to obey and follow. I am nothing without Him.
I ate ice cream today because i felt sad. But i knew that it was an emotion and ill-founded, because of an unfilled idyllic expectation. I ate ice cream anyway. It was yummy (but i should have gotten hot fudge instead of strawberry). But i said "hello" and "thank you" to the guy in the drive-thru, and i could tell in his eyes that he wanted to change the world but there were layers of stuff on top of him that he thought were preventing him. Just by existing, though, he is doing it.
There is such freedom to have if only we would submit. There is such joy to have if only we would let go. I read this today: "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Matt. 16:25. Let's live and love like Christ, okay? like, really, really, really, let's.
Changing the world has nothing to do with how much media happens about you or how many people know your name or even know about something you did without your name. It is an "ancillary benefit to the life we live." No matter what, you, one-sixbillionth of the world's population, have as much impact as when you would have been one-billionth or one-thousandth. And it's because you're not here for you, you're here for God, because He's making a fractal-tapestry with all of the wonderful and unique and carefully, detailfully created and beautiful lives that happen and come and go and choose. You choose. But God is absolutely omniscient. And He has a beautiful end for everything. Just because my mind can't go around that doesn't mean that it's okay for me to think that what i say and do doesn't have an impact. I don't have to understand, i just have to obey and follow. I am nothing without Him.
I ate ice cream today because i felt sad. But i knew that it was an emotion and ill-founded, because of an unfilled idyllic expectation. I ate ice cream anyway. It was yummy (but i should have gotten hot fudge instead of strawberry). But i said "hello" and "thank you" to the guy in the drive-thru, and i could tell in his eyes that he wanted to change the world but there were layers of stuff on top of him that he thought were preventing him. Just by existing, though, he is doing it.
There is such freedom to have if only we would submit. There is such joy to have if only we would let go. I read this today: "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Matt. 16:25. Let's live and love like Christ, okay? like, really, really, really, let's.
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